Saturday, February 19, 2011

Moments at Madrona

It has taken me fully a week to recover from the Madrona Fiber Arts Winter Retreat.

It may be premature to speak of "full" recovery. I may never recover fully. I know I have been changed by the experience. I'm not sure I want to change back.

The retreat hurtled past with such velocity that I find myself unable to offer a fluid narrative. All I have are a sprinkling of moments, and a handful of dreadful photographs. (I know my limits. I can be a participant or I can be a decent photographer, but not both. I chose to be a participant. Carpe diem.)

Herewith, a small selection of the memories (sweet) and the photographs (otherwise).

Funny Moment: Meet Faye

I was prepping the classroom for round two of "Photographing Your Fiber" when I heard a student come through the door. I turned to welcome her, and was startled to meet a lady in dark glasses being led by a Seeing Eye dog.

Now, I've had students who've forgotten more about lace than I will ever know show up for my "Introduction to Lace" class, and I've managed to show them a good time; but I confess to a moment of panic at wondering how one teaches a blind lady to capture true color.

The lady in question was Michelle, and Michelle's guide was Faye.

Happily, Michelle can see well enough to knit and to make photographs; in fact, photographing objects makes them easier for her to encompass visually.

Faye, on the other hand, hadn't brought a camera. She settled herself under the table at Michelle's feet, with her furry derrière sticking out from under the cloth. Occasionally, while I was speaking, her tail would thump delicately against the floor. Or during a pause, I would hear a gentle complaint from her squeaky pony.

I'm thinking of re-writing my classroom requirements henceforth to include a desk, a flip chart, four thick markers of different colors, and a puppy dog.

Personal Note to the Universe Moment: Pocket Wheels

I rode on one of these and I @#$*!! WANT ONE. Just putting it out there, Universe.

Guess Again Moment: Mystery Knitting

A lady in my "Antique Patterns" class held up her half-finished mystery project and asked me, "Is it a vagina?"

The night before everything started I got to peek around the marketplace and saw an entire booth of hanks by a dyer whose work makes my eyeballs knock together, Rainy Days and Wooly Dogs. This is she.

Steph dyes the increasingly famous Goth Socks–including the only self-striping I've seen in years that I truly want to knit with, if for "want" you read "lust with the fiery passion of a thousand guys fresh off a six-month deployment on a submarine."

By the time I got to the market the following morning, during the first break between classes, this is what all the shelves in the booth looked like.

Gone. Gone. That's not a rush, that's a feeding frenzy.

I grew despondent, until a gentleman to whom I'd just been introduced–the friend of a dear friend–took pity on me and insisted on sending me home with his own hank of Goth Socks "Dark and Twisty." And he's straight! He didn't demand sexual favors or anything!

The kindness of some human beings is not to be believed.

Sock one is nearly complete, and it is to die. Pictures coming soon.

Getting to Know You Moment: Karen and Jacey

At the teachers' dinner I sat between Karen Alfke and Jacey Boggs, and amidst the lofty talk and low (but delicious) gossip going on around us, we shared our personal experiences of public nudity, both first- and second-hand.

That's all I'm saying. And no, there are no pictures.

Lord, Let Thy Servant Depart in Peace Moment: Evelyn

During the Teachers' Gallery event at which we displayed the patterns we'd written, Evelyn Clark came to my table, picked up Sahar and said, "This is absolutely lovely."

Fanboy Moment: Vivian

I got seated at the banquet next to Vivian Høxbro. It turns out she has to eat food, just like a normal person. I always figured her to be the type who lives on pure mountain air and ambrosia.

I asked if she would mind having a picture with me. She did not mind.

Jeepers Moment: View from the Lectern

Anybody who goes to Madrona will tell you that among all fiber retreats, it is Different. The reasons for the difference are legion, not least the organizers' insistence on treating the faculty with enormous respect and courtesy. (At some events, the employer/teacher relationship is closer to that of, say, Pharaoh and the Israelites.)

When the teachers are happy, everybody's happy. We all came together–students, teachers, organizers, vendors–for a merry banquet on Saturday night; and I had the honor of addressing the company.

This (if you will tip either your head or your monitor to one side) is what I saw when I looked down from my perch.

It's enough to make a guy choke on his angora.

The warm energy in that room was enough to sustain me through about 365 days of swatching, ripping, re-charting, re-writing, re-ripping, re-knitting and answering e-mails with the subject line "I Think There's a Mistake in Your Pattern."

But I still don't know how I'm going to wait until it's time for Madrona again.

Looking at the picture, I feel like playing "Where's Stephanie?" Can we expect a sitting chart for the panorama? I think that much talent in one room is illegal, or at least requires some sort of protection.

You said we would need to see if your presentation at the banquet was successful to see if you would be invited back to Madrona....You will be invited back many times. It was wonderful and I enjoyed it very much. Thank you for adding to a great experience. Both at the banquet and in class.

I feel so lucky to know Steph (she's in my knitting and spinning group) and lovely to see you like her too! I bet the gentleman in question is my dear, dear friend Scott (cabledguy) who also attends the knitting group where our other dear friend Daniel occasionally drops by. Glad you made it out, and I am again regretting my shyness and wishing I'd hugged the stuffing out of you. :-) Maybe next time--be on guard!

looks wonderful! i have a friend, who was one of your fellows, who reminded me that i can get to anyplace i want to--and even showed me how!--so i won't say i can't ever get there. but since the very first place she opened up for me grabbed me so hard, i imagine i probably won't be going anyplace else very soon. otherwise, though? i'd (somehow) be there in a heartbeat! fiber teachers are fabulous. everybody else: don't say how? say go! you'll never regret going, only not:)

I have been told Madrona is a great place to go. This year, I got to go, but did not know soon enough to get into classes. Only found out the week before that I was coming up to the corporate office for two weeks and would be there the weekend of Madrona. So I got to visit the vendor hall and sit and knit with old and new friends in the open areas. I loved it. I cannot wait to get a chance to go back and take classes.Awesome.

I keep lusting to attend a large workshop/festival, but most are beyond my financial reach. I am, however, fortunate enough to own Pocket Wheel, which I got from the original maker about 5 years ago. I love it! That was back when people said, "But can you really spin seriously on it?" I use mine a lot, and can even use my Majacraft bobbins on it, as I got the brass extender for the shaft. It's a sweet little wheel.

I was in Seattle, driving to SeaTac, when registration opened, and so I missed it. Next year, I will sit by the side of the road, if necessary, to go to Madrona. BTW, I just got word from Mr. Pocket Wheel that mine is coming in a few weeks. You're welcome to come up an use it--we're only a couple of miles apart!

This is one of my favorite posts on one of my favorite blogs. You, sir, have a lovely, gentlemanly way of offering praise and helping readers appreciate others' talents. You have a way of making me like human beings better.

When you tear the lock off the snark cage, it is almost always to belittle ideas or people who have chosen to make their spiritual and/or intellectual poverty public. The stupidities of private people may be named, but you leave the names out.

Just when I think you've earned as much respect as could be expected, under the circumstances, you go on to earn more. Wow.

I read your blog religiously, enjoy your sense of humor, noted that in your profile photo you look like a total tough guy, but the man standing next to Vivian Hoxbro is beaming with the kind of joy and goo-goo-ness that is just lovely to look at. Thanks for keeping up the blog.

Sounds like a good time. The Goth Sock is intriguing... self-striping yarn that's worth knitting? Hmm... Well, until I can figure out how to get to one of these yarn festivals (Fargo doesn't have all that many, which is odd considering the cold).

Franklin - I wanted to send you an email to say THANK YOU SO MUCH for including me in your blog :) I can't find yer email addy tho...so this will have to do for now. I had so much fun meeting you and really enjoyed it. I am flattered you like my yarns so much! I am speechless over the kind words. You really are awesome. Thanks again!

Thank you for such a detailed and passionate post! I had to cancel my reservation due to lack of funds, and I've never been. Maybe next year. But it was so much fun to read your post. I feel like I was given a sweet taste.

Thank you for such a detailed and passionate post! I had to cancel my reservation due to lack of funds, and I've never been. Maybe next year. But it was so much fun to read your post. I feel like I was given a sweet taste.

Aren't labs the bestedest? I have a black lab. She's half pony (she's my height when she stands on her hind legs). She knows how to dance with me on command (she jumps on me and I have no choice but to hold her front paws and dance).

Thank you Franklin for your wonderful teaching and not kicking me out of your class because my vision is crappy. Faye enjoyed it as well. I love the picture you took of us! You helped make our Madrona experience truly fantastic.

@Rosi G. Labs are the bestest. Faye is actually a delicate little lab (55 pounds) and her tail is pretty gentle. It always shocks me after having a lab that would swipe everything of a table and bruise me with one wag of her tail.

Gestosms, indeed! Add that captcha to your next novel! I wanted to say, Franklin, that in the knitted white cotton string coverlet department, you might look at the ones in the Mark Twain house in Hartford, if you get over this way.

I thoroughly enjoyed your photography class. I learned a lot. From you and from Michelle, I admit I was a bit confused by the seeing eye dog in a photography class.I also messed up the auto settings on my camera enough that I was forced to download the user's manual from the manufacturer's website and actually figure out how to work the thing...enough to reset everything. Well, at least I have the *notion* of optimizing the camera settings and resulting photos.

OMG, where do they get the WORD VERIFICATION words?My first word was "actikack" and my second was "bushi". It sounds like and involuntary spasm and the thing it produces:"I felt much better after I actikack'd a large bushi".

D3 Gold Sale it takes strength to be polite to someone when that person has been rude to you, D3 Gold it takes strength to persist in the face of obstacles, when it would be much easier to simply give up Buy D3 Gold, It takes strength to do what must be done when the work is unpleasant and uncomfortable.

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